Army Foils Infiltration Bid In Kashmir; One Militant Killed

11 August 2009The Hindu

Srinagar: Scuttling the fourth infiltration bid within a week, army troops on Monday shot dead a heavily-armed militant trying to sneak into the Kashmir valley from across the Line of Control in Gurez sector. The militant was killed in an encounter with troops near the LoC at Bakhtoor area in Bandipora district of North Kashmir, 145 kms from here, defence sources said. The gun battle took place when the troops challenged a group of militants who were attempting to sneak into this side from across the LoC in the wee hours of the day. On August five, army troops foiled three infiltration bids in Tangdhar, Keran and Nowgam sectors of Kupwara district by killing seven heavily-armed militants. There has been a sudden spurt in infiltration bids over the past one month as the mentors of militants in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were desperate to push as many ultras as possible into the valley to increase the level of violence which is at its lowest ebb for the past several years, the sources said. 'They want to push in militants in large numbers before the onset of winter when the infiltration routes get blocked by snow,' a source said. Talking to media in Delhi, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said there was 'heightened activity' to push in maximum number of militants into Kashmir before winter and maintained that support of Pakistani Army in the infiltration bids by terrorists cannot be ruled out.